THE MAGAZINE OF THE GEORGE C. MARSHALL FOUNDATION Frank Settle’s Marshall & the Atomic Bomb Mark Stoler’s Marshall Lecture at AHA The Whole Man: Letters of Rose Page Wilson Best New Books Marshall Legacy Series Marshall Shorts FALL 2015 photo credit: George C. Marshall Research Library FALL 2015 Features Marshall and the Atomic Bomb 4 By Frank Settle, Ph.D Marshall is best known today as the architect of Europe’s recovery in the af - termath of World War II—the Marshall Plan. He also earned acclaim as the master strategist of the Allied victory in World War II. He mobilized and equipped the Army and Air Force under a single command; served as the pri - mary conduit for information between the Army and the Air Force and the president and secretary of war; developed a close working relationship with Admiral Earnest King, Chief of Naval Operations; worked with Congress and leaders of industry on funding and producing resources for the war; and developed and implemented the successful strategy the Allies pursued in fighting the war. Last but not least of his responsibilities was the production of the atomic bomb. George C. Marshall and the “Europe-First” 12 Strategy, 1939–1951: A Study in Diplomatic as well as Military History By Mark A. Stoler, Ph.D. As Army chief of staff, secretary of state, and secretary of defense, George C. Marshall played a major role in creating, implementing, and defending the multilateral “Europe-First” global strategy that guided U.S. foreign and military policies through World War II and the Cold War. This lecture explores how and why he did so, emphasizing the decision to defeat Germany before Japan, the postwar European Recovery Program that bears Marshall’s name, and the relief of General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War for his refusal to accept this grand strategy. In the process it analyzes the complex relationship that exists between diplomatic and military history. The Whole Man 18 By Mame Warren George Catlett Marshall was 39 and Rose Page was all of eight years old in 1919 when she met the dashing colonel who had just moved into the apartment building where her family lived in Washington, DC. He became her godfather and she the daughter he never had. Their relationship that strengthened until his death 40 years later is richly documented in a collection of letters that pro - vides insight into this hard-to-know, very private man. FALL 2015 Departments 3 Welcome 24 Marshall Shorts • Marshall and Comic Books • Skype in the Classroom • Scholarship in the Library 26 Marshall Legacy Series • Speakers and programs • Museum exhibitions • Schedule for the Series MARSHALL is the membership magazine of the 28 The Last Word George C. Marshall Foundation. We encourage reproduction and use of articles contained herein, with permission. Direct correspondence and requests to the George C. Marshall Foundation, P.O. Box 1600, Lexington, VA 24450. Telephone: 540-463-7103 Website: www.marshallfoundation.org Membership information is available on our web - site. Your membership supports programs and activities during your membership year. By re - newing your membership, you help us perpetu - ate the legacy of the man President Harry Truman called “the great one of the age.” As the keeper of the flame, the Marshall Foundation preserves and communicates the remarkable story of the life and times of George C. Marshall and his contem - poraries. It has become a unique, national treas - ure worth protecting at all costs. That’s why your membership is so important. Contact: Rick Drake at [email protected] Contributors: Rob Havers, Rick Drake, Cara Cook front cover photo credit: George C. Marshall Research Library Sonnier, Mame Warren, Frank Settle, Mark Stoler, Kevin Remington and Kelly Nye MARSHALLFOUNDATION.ORG welcome It is a very great pleasure to welcome you to the inaugural edition of Marshall , the maga - zine of the George C. Marshall Foundation. rough this publication we intend to showcase the best new articles and research on the life and the legacy of one of the greatest Americans of the 20th century, George Catlett Marshall. General Marshall’s career was long and his accomplishments legion. We live, daily, with the “ Who though, implications of those decisions and judgments. Despite this, Marshall is not well known today, was a hero to unlike many of his peers. is is due, in part, to the fact that Marshall is a hard man to know. Marshall le no diary, published no autobiography and, unlike many of his contemporaries, Churchill? consciously eschewed acts of self-aggrandizement. Marshall requires effort to understand and to appreciate. It is our task to bring Marshall to life for new generations and also more fully Who did he than we have done previously. e Marshall Foundation has sponsored scholarly endeavors admire and why? for many years, and the publication of Volume VII of Marshall’s papers is the culmination of much of that effort. Our task now is to add more color to the portrayal of this fascinating and For Churchill complex individual and connect his time to ours. that man, during ough a giant by reputation and achievement, Marshall lived at a time when the world was seemingly replete with great leaders. Certainly the huge challenges to democracy and the and after World crises of the first half of the 20th century brought forth substantial men, and women; leaders War II, was of stature commensurate with the scale of the tests they faced. e names of Roosevelt and Truman, Churchill and Eisenhower are well known, still, despite the passage of the years. George C. Marshall.” Marshall, regrettably, though a peer of these men does not command the same recognition. When one thinks of a man like Churchill: larger than life and a force of nature in the private and public sphere, it is self-evident that he should remain a hero to so many. Who though, was a hero to Churchill? Who did he admire and why? For Churchill that man, during and aer World War II, was George C. Marshall. e “true architect of victory” as he generously, but rightly termed him. ese sentiments, privately and sincerely expressed, are to be found in correspondence between Marshall and Churchill in the archives here at the Marshall Foundation in Lexington. Marshall’s private papers are here too. ey show the personal bond between the two men but also serve to indicate the real nature of Marshall’s stature, as meas - ured by the stature of those who revered him. is magazine, in tandem with our new Legacy Series and a host of other initiatives, will bring Marshall to life today substantially and in a fashion that does justice to the complexities of his life, character and career. We look forward to having you take that journey with us. Sincerely, Rob Havers, President FALL 2015 3 Marshall and Secretary of War Henry Stimson oversaw the largest scientific project in history. y r a r b i L h c r a e s e R l l a h s r a M . C e g r o e G : t i d e r c o t o h p MMaarrsshhaallll,, aass AArrmmyy cchhiieeff ooff ssttaaffff,, bbeeccaammee rreessppoonnssiibbllee ffoorr tthhee mmaassssiivvee eeffffoorrtt kknnoowwnn aass tthhee MMaannhhaattttaann PPrroojjeecctt.. 4 MARSHALLFOUNDATION.ORG Marshall and the Atomic Bomb BY FRANK SETTLE, PH.D. General George C. Marshall and the atomic Bomb* provides the first full narrative describing General Marshall’s crucial role in the decades-long development of nuclear weapons that included the Manhattan Project and the use of the atomic bomb on Japan. Marshall is best known today as the architect of Europe’s recovery in the aermath of World War II —the Marshall Plan. He also earned acclaim as the master strategist of the Allied victory in World War II. He mobilized and equipped the Army and Air Force under a single command; served as the primary conduit for information between the Army and the Air Force and the president and secretary of war; developed a close working relationship with Admiral Earnest King, Chief of Naval Operations; worked with Congress and leaders of industry on funding and producing resources for the war; and developed and implemented the successful strategy the Allies pursued in fighting the war. Last but not least of his responsibilities was the production of the atomic bomb. The Beginnings photo credit: George C. Marshall Research Library An early morning phone call to U.S. Army General George C. Marshall and a letter to President Dr. Albert Einstein and Gen. George Franklin Roosevelt led to Marshall’s little known, yet critical, role in the development and use C. Marshall of the atomic bomb. e call, received at 3:00 a.m., September 1, 1939, informed Marshall that German dive bombers had attacked Warsaw. e letter signed by noted physicist Albert Einstein and delivered a month later, informed Roosevelt of the possibility of producing an enormously powerful bomb using a nuclear chain reaction in uranium. As Marshall hung up the phone, he told his drowsy wife, “Well, it’s come.” He dressed quickly and went to his office. Later that day he would be sworn in as Army chief of staff while German troops marched into Poland in a blitzkrieg that began World War II. Nearly one year before, German scientists had observed that bombarding uranium atoms with neutrons caused them to split into smaller elements, releasing a tremendous amount of energy. is fission of a uranium atom also generates additional neutrons. ese neutrons can then split other uranium atoms to produce a nuclear chain reaction.